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What's an ISBN?

ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) are unique 10- or 13-digit numbers used by publishers to identify printed books, eBooks, video, audio, etc. You can typically find the ISBN near the bar code on the back cover of a book or on a package sticker. The ISBN will also be listed on the copyright page of a book. If there is more than one set of numbers on your book, the ISBN code is easily identified because the letters ISBN always appear before the number. If you are entering an ISBN number into the search bar, do not include dashes or spaces.

Electronic Megastores: Where polite restraint goes to die

I spent my second day in Japan acclimating to my new surroundings. To finally be in the country that I had spent years studying felt…surreal to say the least. And although I’m sure my fellow study abroad compatriots and I could have spent our first full day in Japan doing something cultural like seeing a temple or drinking maccha, we had other priorities in mind: getting a Japanese cell phone, or keitai, and a fancy electronic dictionary, or denshijisho.

I, for one, was looking more forward to the shopping experience than the actual gadgets we wanted to buy. I had heard stories about how exemplary Japan’s customer service was. I was told that salespeople used incomprehensibly polite language and that there were no pushy used car salesman types. Japanese stores were a perfect manifestation of that most Japanese of qualities: polite restraint.

So, with our shopping list decided and a picturesque vision of shopping in Japan in mind, my new friends and I walked into the closest electronics megastore…and then nearly fell right back out thanks to the sensory onslaught that greeted us. Lights flashed, sirens blared, and customers were packed shoulder to shoulder. There were scantily-clad women trying to hock cell phones. There were isles and isles of alcohol right next to the TV section. And perhaps most bizarrely of all, there was a tiny little Japanese man standing on a stool next to a sea of washing machines who was screaming into a bullhorn that every appliance was “50% off for today only.” Perhaps Japan really was the land of polite restraint, but apparently these people never got the memo.

Cheng & Tsui Company

Cheng & Tsui is the leading publisher of Asian language learning textbooks & multimedia educational materials. Since its founding in 1979, Cheng & Tsui has been dedicated to “Bringing Asia to the World.”